


Nijk shöst (Please)

by bavariansugarcookie



Category: Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab
Genre: Alternate Ending, Blood Magic, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Angst, Holland is all snark and secrets, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Rhy is a major flirt, but it all happens off screen, just FYI, so many feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-21 07:41:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14280222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bavariansugarcookie/pseuds/bavariansugarcookie
Summary: Holland meets the prince of Arnes and is intrigued despite himself. Rhy flirts shamelessly.





	Nijk shöst (Please)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wingedbears](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingedbears/gifts).



Holland took a deep breath as he passed into the other London for the first time. Well, not exactly the first time. This was the first time he’d crossed on the king’s orders.

 

He gave himself a moment to adjust to the onslaught of magic -- so much of it all at once, it made his head swim. He didn’t NEED this London’s magic -- all the magic he needed was in his own blood  -- but if only he could bring a tenth of this magic home with him, it might bring his world back…

 

Holland shook his head. Those days were gone. He walked up to the glittering palace (so different than the fortress Vortalis ruled) and knocked on the door.

 

The meeting was exceedingly dull. So many pleasantries and empty promises about wanting to build a bridge between this London and his own. But he knew these Londoners preferred walls. The King and Queen thankfully spoke High Royal, because Holland was sure his Arnesian sounded rough and plebian to their cultured ears.  

 

Finally the meeting was over and he was able to escape the stuffiness of the throne room. The air here was so warm that if Holland stayed for more than a few minutes he quickly felt as if he was suffocating.

 

Kell followed him to the garden, of course. He’d obviously been practicing his Maktahn because his vocabulary had significantly improved, although he still struggled with the ö’s. Holland cringed at the eagerness in the boy’s voice. He had sounded like that once, but after Tal, well, that had all changed.

 

As they passed underneath one of the fruit trees, something came flying at Holland’s head. He caught it lazily and sent it whirling back with a flick of his wrist. The perpetrator yelped.

 

“Rhy!” Kell scolded as the prince dropped out of the tree, laughing, with a large purple stain spreading across his chest. He seemed completely unconcerned as he smiled up at Holland.

 

“That was a good throw!” he said in flawless High Royal. “Usually Kell misses.”

 

Holland laughed while Kell spluttered indignantly. “Don’t feel so bad, Kell. Where I come from, I can’t afford to miss.”

 

And with that he put his hand against the wall and whispered the spell. The heat and magic of that London melted away, and soon he was standing in the cold, clear air of Makt. But as he walked to report to Vortalis the dark haired prince’s laughter echoed in his mind.

***

“Holland, it’s been so long -- are you alright?” Kell asked when Holland appeared at the gate.

 

Holland shrugged. “I’m alright.” _You’re not_ , that tiny voice in his head whispered. _You know you’re not, and you never will be again._ Holland ignored the voice. Athos might have broken him, but hell if he was going to show it to these spoiled royals.

 

He followed Kell into the study where he met the King and Queen, and was surprised to see Rhy there as well, leaning his chair on 2 legs. Kell mimed pushing his chair over and Rhy reluctantly set it upright.

 

“Holland,” the king said in his deep baritone, while giving the boys a stern look, “How are things in Makt? We were starting to worry when we heard no news from Vortalis.”

 

Holland cleared his throat. “Vortalis is dead. The new King and Queen send their regards.” He held out an envelope with Athos’ message.

 

Maxim broke the seal and read, his lips pressing closer and closer together. “Athos and Astrid seem to have a most… unorthodox way of ruling,” he said as he passed the note to the Queen.

 

Holland could almost feel the ink sinking deeper and deeper into the seal on his shoulder, poisoning his blood forever. “Yes. It is certainly unorthodox.”

***

Holland strode purposefully down the hall after his meeting with the queen and king and Rhy barely caught a glimpse of his cloak as he hurried -- his mother always said princes didn’t _gallop_ \-- to catch up with him. “Nijk shöst, wait for me!” he called in Maktahn.

 

Holland turned and stared at him. “You speak Maktahn?”

 

Rhy shrugged, as if it was perfectly normal to speak a language from a different world you’d never been to. “Not fluently, but I’ve always been good at languages.”

 

Holland’s eyebrows rose. “You must be, your accent is very good.”

 

“Better than Kell’s?”

 

Holland smirked and Rhy caught himself beaming. Kell always said he would flirt with anyone, but making Holland smile was different. It made him think of a sunny day when he’d thrown fruit at a handsome Antari and made him laugh.

 

“Kell still can’t get his vowels right. His accent’s too Arnesian.” Holland cocked his head. “Which is odd since he grew up speaking High Royal.”

 

“We speak Arnesian too,” Rhy said. “High Royal is for when we want to show off.”

 

“So were you trying to impress me with your Maktahn?” Holland asked.

 

Rhy leaned against a pillar and gave his most dazzling smile. “Obviously.”

 

***

The dream started as it always did -- he stood at the river, letting his blood mix with the water, when Athos’ cold voice echoed behind him. “What a waste.”

 

He stepped forward with a chalice and held it out. “Don’t take too long.”

 

But this time, the dream changed. Holland dropped the knife and walked away through the trees until Athos’ voice was swallowed up by the silent forest. Suddenly he stepped forward into a glade -- no, not a glade, but a garden. The breeze was heavy with the smell of ripe fruit and flowers. Holland took a deep breath as if he’d been drowning. He’d never smelled that in Makt before.

 

But when he opened his eyes, he realized he wasn’t in Makt anymore. He was standing in the other London, in the garden. The prince was dozing on a blanket nearby, but he opened one eye drowsily. “Nijk shöst, come here,” he murmured. Holland knelt down, reaching to brush the dark curls back.

 

And then the instinct that he was not alone kicked in, and Holland woke up, with his hand on his blade and a blood spell on his lips. Athos tutted. “Now, now, none of that. I have a task for you.” And he held out a necklace with a blood red pendant. “A gift for a prince,” he said with a smile so cruel it made Holland’s heart stop. That smile meant nothing good.

***

Rhy woke up from a nap -- the Sanctuary always made him so _sleepy_ \-- and realized that Holland was standing at the door. “Oh hello,” he said, trying to pretend he wasn’t a half dead man lying in bed. Which was admittedly a significant improvement from being a very dead man lying in bed.

 

“Hello,” Holland said quietly. “Do you want me to leave?”

 

Rhy couldn’t help but remember the last time Holland had been in his bedroom, and the complete disaster that had happened afterward. “No, you can stay.”

 

Holland stepped forward and paused, with his hand resting on the chair beside the bed. “How are you feeling?”

 

“Excellent. Nothing like a brush with death to make you feel more alive.” Rhy used his most charming smile, but Holland just sank wearily into the chair.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Rhy sighed. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t force me to take the stupid thing. I was the fool who put it on.”

 

Holland glanced at him, and then studied the blank wall just over Rhy’s shoulder. “I’ve never been able to apologize for the things I did then. Mostly because it’s no good apologizing to the dead.” He cleared his throat. “It’s so strange to be free, to have a choice. It must not seem that way to you, but I haven’t had one in so long…” He rubbed his shoulder absent mindedly.

 

Rhy leaned forward with difficulty. “It was strange not having a choice. I felt like I was in a dream, watching as someone else ate and slept and talked to people. And beat the hell out of my brother.” Rhy shook his head. “I’m the last person who could blame you.”

 

Holland’s gaze met his, and Rhy marveled again at the green eye, so different than Kell’s, and the black eye, which was so eerily the same. Suddenly Holland reached forward and brushed aside Rhy’s collar to get a better look at his shoulder. “What is that?”

 

A surge of panic. Holland couldn’t know Kell had bound himself to Rhy. Holland couldn’t know Kell’s weakness. So without thinking, Rhy kissed him.

 

Holland flinched, but just as Rhy pulled away he reached up and ran his fingers through Rhy’s curls. “Nijk shöst,” he whispered before kissing Rhy again.

 

Rhy heard himself gasping in a decidedly unprincely manner, but he was too busy kissing Holland back to care. They had been kissing for hours, or days, or minutes before there was a crash. Holland lurched away, and somehow looked sheepish and utterly nonchalant, while Kell gaped at them from the doorway with a smashed pot of tea on the floor. Lila looked over his shoulder, looking both amused and like she would quite like to stab Holland with one of her many knives.

 

Rhy laughed weakly. “Hello, Kell. Shame about the tea.”

**Author's Note:**

> I was talking about A Darker Shade of Magic with wingedbears and she mentioned that she wanted to know more about Rhy and Holland and my imagination ran away with me. ;)
> 
> Nijk shöst is the Maktahn phrase for please -- it's the only Maktahn phrase I could find that fit the story and since I was TERRIBLE at my syntax/ linguistics class in school I thought I'd save myself the embarrassment/ everyone else the pain of me trying to make up more words myself. XD
> 
> Also, in this fic Holland isn't dropped into Black London, because I couldn't resist a reunion scene in the sanctuary. Sorry/ I'm not really sorry at all. 
> 
> I hope you like it!! I love this series and these boys and it was so fun writing this! <3


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